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SOUND ADVICE

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International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 6, 1887

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 13, No. 1.

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SOUND ADVICE.

THE following advice which Abraham Lincoln gave to a young officer who had been court-martialed for a quarrel with one of his associates, is worthy of universal acceptance. It not only deserves to be written “on the walls of every gymnasium and college,” but on the walls of every private house and place of business:—
“The advice of a father to his son, ‘Beware of entrance to a quarrel, but, being in, bear it that the opposed may beware of thee!’ is good, but not the best. Quarrel not at all. No man resolved to make the most of himself can spare time for personal contention. Still less can he afford to take all the consequences, including the vitiating of his temper and the loss of self-control. Yield larger things to which you can show no more than equal right; and yield lesser ones though clearly your own. Better give your path to a dog, than be bitten by him in contesting for your right. Even killing the dog would not cure the bite.”